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| Father Jeffrey Steenson |
(Virtue Online) -- "It is being noised Jeffrey Steenson, the former Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in the Episcopal Church, who was received into the Catholic Church in 2007 and is now a priest, will be named Ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate on January 1, 2012," the Bovina Bloviator posted under an Ordinariate Buzz header.THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I would like to remind my readers that this is all 'unofficial' at this time, as Rome has not actually made the official announcement yet. I provide it here only because the information has already been leaked onto the Internet. It should be considered a highly credible RUMOR. However this information is allegedly confirmed by multiple inside sources, and is being accepted as factual by some who are supposedly 'in the know.' I suppose we will all know for sure on January 1st.
Steenson's Anglo-Catholic pedigree comes from being an Episcopal priest for 24 years including stints as the curate and rector at two Pennsylvania parishes -- All Saints' Church in Wynnewood, and Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, before going on to St. Andrew's in Fort Worth, Texas. From there he was elected, in 2004, to be bishop coadjutor for the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande under Bishop Terence Kelshaw. The former Rio Grande bishop has the distinction of being the 1000th Episcopal Church bishop consecrated with his "lappets" stretching all the way back to the first Bishop of Connecticut, Samuel Seabury who was consecrated in 1784. Steenson's consecrators included then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, his predecessor Bishop Terence Kelshaw, Anglo-Catholic Bishop Clarence Pope, indigenous Bishop Mark McDonald, and ecumenical Bishop Anthony Burton from the Anglican Church of Canada. Steenson became the eighth diocesan bishop in 2005. He was an Episcopal bishop for two short years before swimming the Tiber.
The Anglo-Catholic Bishop of the Rio Grande shed the purple in December 2007 and was received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. This was done in Rome, Italy, at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major during a private ceremony officiated by Bernard Cardinal Law, the former Catholic Cardinal of Boston and then archpriest at a Roman basilica.
The former Episcopal bishop embraced the Pastoral Provision that allows for former Anglican clergy to become Roman Catholics and eventually recoup their priesthood. The Pastoral Provision is the precursor to the unfolding Anglican Ordinariate and will operate along side of it for those converting priests who do not wish to become a part of the Ordinariate yet want to become Roman Catholic....
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Let us pray that the Anglican patrimony, which was originally Catholic, of true church architecture, true church hymns, and intellectuality in the Newman tradition is brought forth into the US Church. The church here has been so mired in 1960's culture that one barley recognizes some of our buildings as actually churches. Perhaps the ordinariate could partner with an architectural school or company to revive true sacred architecture in conjunction with the revival of Anglo Catholic patrimony.
Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.
Unless the Ordinary is actually a bishop, and not a priest given the right to vest as one, the Ordinariate will be a canonical curiosity, "grandfathering" in disaffected Episcopliansm but probably fading out in less than a generation.
That's a very limited view of what the Holy Father intends Anonymous. The vision of the Holy Father is much broader, as is indicated by the Apostolic Consitution (Anglicanorum Coetibus) it is intended to be perpetual. This is, if these Anglicans entering the Church want it to be.
Originally, the idea was to create a whole new rite for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, however, this proved impossible at this time because of the condition Anglicanism is currently in. In order to have a rite, there must be bishops with real apostolic secession, a clear patrimony, and no ambiguity on the sacraments of holy orders. The tradition of all Christendom has always been celibate bishops, since the middle third century. Anglicanism did not possess these things, in any clear fashion, even though it demonstrated an affinity for English Catholic liturgy and culture.
So what the pope did was create an 'incubator' called the ordinariate. The idea of the ordinariate is to create a 'space' (if you will) within the Catholic Church, wherein Anglicans (i.e. Anglo Catholics) can further develop their patrimony with absolute clarity in an environment where holy orders are no longer in question. The position of Ordinary may be a chaste married priest for as long as these Anglo Catholics require one. However, it is envisioned in the long run that there will at least be some celibate men ordained to the Anglo Catholic priesthood eventually. These men will eventually become candidates for the position of Ordinary when the time is right. When that day comes, a bishop will be consecrated as the next ordinary (someday in the future). Once that happens, the ordinariate becomes a particular church, a full-fledged diocese (if you will), and the Anglican patrimony is well on its way to become a full-fledged rite within the Catholic Church.
As for time frame, your guess is as good as mine. Speculatively, one would think one to two generations would be ample. That is not a job for this pope or this generation though. This pope plants the seeds of a future Anglican Rite. Another pope, someday in the future, harvests the crop, and actually makes it happen. Just as Pope John Paul II cleared the field with the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision, so this pope (Benedict XVI) is laying the foundation with the Anglican ordinariates. Other popes will help build the structure as Anglo Catholics supply the living materials, and someday the Anglican Rite within the Catholic Church will be completed.
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